


Mad Paradox

by infinitywayvern



Category: Elsword (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Death, Strangulation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-14
Updated: 2018-03-14
Packaged: 2019-03-31 04:24:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13967277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/infinitywayvern/pseuds/infinitywayvern
Summary: Some things just aren't meant to be.





	Mad Paradox

**Author's Note:**

> this is a bit all over the place but I had to get this idea out of my head. oops

Wrong. That's what Arc felt, staring up at the other Add in front of him. It should be impossible for an alternate reality version of himself to exist. Sure, he'd done the research and it was possible _in theory._ On _paper._ Did an alternate timeline version of himself really find the technology to successfully transport himself through his timeline and other timelines? Were there even alternate timelines where copies of himself existed? That Wanderer Ain certainly seemed to be able to pass in and out of Henir. Is it possible that Henir connected multiple timelines and alternate realities? Is that why another version of him was here?

"You..." The voice of the other Add shook Arc from his thoughts his scientist mind was lost in. His eyes waved up and down his alternate self. He had longer-- no, shorter hair. He was older-- younger than him. Every time his eyes moved, the Add in front of him waved, flickered between two forms like a mirage. The only constant was the black scleras, empty and hollow like the void, and the dark, dangerous dynamos looming around him.

It was like staring at a Paradox, something that shouldn't exist. And yet, here it was, existing. And he did not seem happy to see Arc.

"Arc Tracer." He spoke again, and sent his hair standing on end. He should not know of the title he's given himself, but he does. Paradox's form solidifies to the older version, intimidating and much taller than Arc. "You have no intention of saving mom, do you?"

Arc swallows. He shouldn't be afraid, but he is. His alter's entire being just radiates _wrong_ and it puts him on edge. "Mom's dead." He squeaks out, which was the wrong answer.

"LIAR!" Paradox's face flickers to that of the child, and Arc is reminded of the boy he once was, who cried himself to sleep at night after he was enslaved, missing his mother.

He didn't have time to dwell on the thought, though. His alter suddenly grabs him by the throat, slamming him into the wall of his lab. Arc's ability to breathe becomes difficult, grabbing at the hand around his throat. He tries to command his dynamos to attack, but they don't respond.

Laughter rises in the chest of the other Add, the sinister look in his eyes chilling Arc to the core, despite his rapid heart rate. "We have the same genetic make-up, they don't know which of us is the real Add. Unlucky for you, I'm the stronger one. You're _useless._ You shouldn't exist." The grip around his throat tightens, making him choke and sputter at each failed attempt to breathe. "You aren't going to try and save mom. Even if you did, it's pointless. Mom is _mine,_ I won't let you take her."

Paradox keeps squeezing, choking the life out of Arc, his vision fading out around the edges. He doesn't understand, why was he being punished for letting go of the past? Not even that. He was being punished just for having the misfortune of running into this alternate timeline of himself. Arc struggles weakly, trying to plead for his life with his eyes.

It was pointless, Paradox was too far gone, too set in the mind that Arc had to die. "If it's not me then it's not real. Only I can save mom, only I can have her! Only me!!" He shrieks. Just before Arc blacks out for good, he sees his alter wave his hand, parts of his body glowing in an unearthly pinkish-white light. He pulls Arc from the wall and smashes him back into it, and that's all he remembers, mind going dark.

\---

Arc bolts right up in his bedroll, clutching his chest and breathing heavily. It was a dream? It... It couldn't be... It felt too real... Even his neck felt sore and bruised as he reached up to touch with shaky fingers. Even swallowing hurt, like his throat was swollen. But it had to have been a dream, he was alive right now and his alternate selves were asleep next to him. They'd been travelling and living together almost two years now, along with the rest of the elgang and they weren't trying to kill each other.

He looked over to where Time lay, not so peacefully but fast asleep. Nothing could wake either of the Adds, so Arc's outburst went unnoticed. Time couldn't hurt anyone either, he was just a boy who wanted to go back in time to save his mom. While Arc never fully approved, Time had never shown any malicious actions towards him or Psych.

Time didn't have the potential to become like the Mad Paradox in his dream. He couldn't become like that.

But he could.


End file.
